BOSTON -- Waking up in an intensive-care unit bed at Boston Medical Center shortly after the Boston Marathon bombings, Brittany Loring remembers asking what happened to her friend, Liza Cherney.

Loring, an Ayer native who had just celebrated her 29th birthday, lay in the hospital with severe shrapnel wounds to her legs. Her index finger had been sliced open, her skull fractured, and BBs had to be removed from her neck. Yet, all she cared about was that Cherney -- with whom she was walking on Boylston Street when the bomb went off -- survived and that Loring's fiancé escaped a potential tragedy by not being there with her that day.

Alyssa Loring had seen her sister's caring side many times before, including when she spent six months in Thailand working in an orphanage in 2007. A photo of the children swarming around the 5-foot, 6-inch-tall, fair-skinned Loring showed just how much they bonded, Alyssa said. Brittany would email her sister to say she could manage the 100-degree temperatures outside because she had her own fan.

Brittany Loring is a self-avowed positive person, with the determination to overcome obstacles to achieve her goals.

"I don't think I will ever understand why (the bombers did what they did). So, instead I chose to focus on my recovery," said Loring, who walked up to receive her MBA degree at Boston College's commencement on Monday. She will also receive her juris doctorate degree from the law school at Boston College today.

"I have no intention of letting anyone stop me," Loring said.

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The celebration comes nearly six weeks after the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings killed three people and injured more than 260, including Loring and her business- school classmate Cherney. Having just begun physical therapy following a series of surgeries and an 11-day hospital stay, Loring still faces more physical therapy to regain a full range of motion with her legs and hand. But her friends and family say the heinous violence never got her down emotionally.

Ayer native Brittany Loring, left, and her friend, Liza Cherney, celebrate after receiving their MBAs from Boston College on Monday. Both are recovering from injuries suffered in the marathon bombings. Loring will receive her juris doctorate degree from Boston College Law School today.
COURTESY PHOTO

On April 15, Loring and Cherney were on Boylston Street cheering on their friend who was running the marathon. They were squeezing their way past the crowd toward the finish line when the first of the two bombs exploded. Loring fell to the ground. She picked herself up and ran around the corner onto Exeter Street, where she saw blood on her face in a reflection on a storefront glass.

The first woman whom she asked for help must have been in shock, Loring said, because she began screaming when she saw her. After getting into an ambulance, Loring sent a text message to Alyssa, her 27-year-old sister in Woburn: "Hurt. BMC."

Alyssa and her mother, Pamela Lambert-Loring, who co-owns Nashoba Valley Fitness in Ayer with her ex-husband Dan Loring, rushed to Boston Medical Center.

Dan Loring, a real-estate agent for Keller Williams Realty, jumped on a red-eye flight back from Mexico where he had been vacationing. While sitting for hours in the waiting room the hospital set up for bombing victims' families, they would overhear the conversations between doctors and other families about the amputation of their loved ones' legs.

But while all their attention was on Loring, her first question for her family in the ICU was about Cherney, who had been transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Loring also asked Alyssa to read some messages that people had sent in support. Brittany Loring said this week that she received flowers, cards and many other gifts, including a dream catcher from the Girl Scouts in Ayer. The Facebook page titled, "Recovery for Brittany Strong," continues to draw support with 1,298 "likes" as of Thursday.

"Knowing so many people are pulling for me was inspiring for me," Loring said.

Thinking about upcoming milestones also helped her stay positive, Loring said. Loring will marry her fiancé in September and will begin her job at PricewaterhouseCoopers in October, in which she will handle issues related to international taxes. Dan Loring said his family took over the preparation for her graduation, her wedding and other things so that she can continue with her life when she leaves the hospital.

"My entire family is very strong," Dan Loring said. "We live in a positive world."

Dan Loring said all his family members, including Brittany's 23-year-old sister, Amanda Loring, who lives in New York City, live by the work-hard-play-hard motto.

Diane Ring, professor of law at Boston College, said Loring is a hard-worker who simultaneously and successfully sought her MBA and law degrees. She would attend various seminars geared toward scholars and always understood how to be most helpful as a research assistant to her.

Daisy Wiggins of Northboro, Brittany's best friend since middle school, said Loring is also a loyal, trustworthy friend.

"When you are looking for a friend, you are looking for someone who will always be there for you," Wiggins said, adding that's exactly who Loring is.

Dan Loring said he recently walked from Boylston Street to Exeter Street, trying to understand what his daughter went through in the aftermath of the bombings. For him, it was part of the healing process. For Brittany, who still avoids watching TV because seeing the images from the bombings heightens her anxiety, going back to the site would still feel too raw. But she said she will return when she feels ready.

"I have no intention of letting those individuals who did this ruin my life," Loring said of the suspects.

She said her experience of surviving the attack reaffirmed what she has always believed, which is "just being positive and focused on good things in life -- friends and family," she said.

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